


A Class of Daemons

by UsagiSquared



Category: Bleach, Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D's
Genre: Gen, does it count as no character death if they're already dead, eventual school slice of life too, it's bleach it's the afterlife dammit, it's time for rukongai slice of life kids
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-01-13
Updated: 2020-01-14
Packaged: 2021-02-27 13:21:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 13
Words: 17,012
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22237771
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/UsagiSquared/pseuds/UsagiSquared
Summary: Crossover with Bleach - While characters from Bleach will appear, focus remains on the 5Ds characters within the setting.While the Dark Signers were defeated, they were still ultimately beyond the veil. The Crimson Dragon itself could not bring them back, and so there was only one other place to go. The place where all dead would travel, provided their souls were not tainted by unforgiven crimes...Soul Society.
Kudos: 5





	1. A Note before the Story

This fanfic was written before much of Bleach's canon was published; it's only now that I've opted to polish it up and upload it here to Ao3. While most things will be made to reflect end-canon (such as Ukitake no longer being around- which people will note when Kyoraku appears instead of him later on), certain things per the world building itself will remain. These are ultimately simple things, meant to bring stability and enjoyment to the fanfic as a whole, so I hope you enjoy those changes.

With all that said, enjoy what there is of a Class of Daemons- and with any luck, I'll post updates to this and the other fics in the future!


	2. Chapter 2

**_He closed his eyes not because he was forced to, but because he was too tired to bear it any more._ **

**_In the end not even death could awaken him.  
  
_ **

* * *

  
He could smell the faint scent of pine as he came to regain consciousness, though he did not know it as such. If there had ever been a tree in Satellite it had assuredly been something else, something far less majestic and fragrant.

It was not the scent of pine which awoke him however, but rather the fact that he could smell at all. As he opened his eyes his confusion increased. It was dark, however not nearly as much as had been before, in his duel against Yuusei. In fact it seemed that there was light streaming through a screen of sorts, not that he felt energetic enough to check.

He had the faintest memory of a similar experience to be honest. Of a moment not long before in the darkness, where he’d opened his eyes and in his confusion been unable to utter so much as a word. In response to whatever unintelligible mutterings he made (as he had forgotten) he had been told- ‘ _close your eyes- rest._ ’

So he had.

The strength of the memory was too dim to be given much thought however, and so instead he did not pay it mind. Instead, groaning, he attempted to place where he was now.

“ _Did you hear that?_ ” he thought he heard someone say, and as he blearily attempted to hold his eyes open the voice grew clearer. “ _Was that-?_ ”

“Who-” he rasped, his voice almost too quiet to hear.

From the side a paper screen door opened, and quite suddenly the voice became loud enough to jolt him awake entirely. “You’re awake!” a woman cried, her voice only mildly familiar to him. “Oh thank goodness!”

“Nn…” He frowned, and as he turned his head just slightly his vision slowly took in the face of the speaker. While he narrowed his eyes the woman continued to ramble in her relief.

“You’ve been asleep for so long!” she was saying, her hair only loosely tied back from her face. “We were so worried! I didn’t think I’d be able to get away with trying to give you soup for too much longer and I-”

The more she spoke the more he recognized her, and the more this happened the more annoyed he found himself becoming. “ _Carly_?” he realized, the woman blinking as she cut her words short.

“Ah- Y-yes! Kiryu-san, do you remember what-”

Kiryu cut her off once again, forcing himself to sit up with a grimace. He was laying on a futon he noticed dimly, something that had been a luxury in Satellite even if it were molded or torn. “What is this?” he asked coldly, looking over himself as well. These were not his clothes, nor were they anything close to what he had ever worn. Rather instead it was something of a faded, dirtied white, a robe resembling those he’d only ever heard of in the context of duel monsters and old picture books he’d glimpsed. He repeated with a slight change, his question. “Where is this?”

Carly’s answer would be interrupted by another, a similarly familiar man coming into the room whilst garbed in robes not at all unlike his own. “Rukongai’s 1st district of the south, 'Getsukoin’,” he spoke, Kiryu briefly staring in surprised and somewhat exhausted bewilderment. “Soul Society.”

Perhaps if his mind had been clearer he would have asked something that made more sense. Something like 'that didn’t answer ' _what_ '’, or 'where the hell is soul society?'.

Instead however as he looked to Demak, he found himself narrowing his eyes almost in distaste.

“Oi,” he said in the end. “…When in the hell did you have hair?”

It was likely for his own good that his exhaustion caught up with him and sent him back into oblivion a few minutes thereafter, but this time at least, he would recall most of what he’d heard from the others there.


	3. Chapter 3

_**If he heard the Dragon’s roar, he did not acknowledge it.** _

_**Those who did would experience a fate no different than his own, after all.** _

* * *

He awoke somewhat frequently throughout the two weeks after that day, with varying levels of consciousness and awareness. At some points he merely looked over the others with glazed eyes, before closing them back over. Other times he held short conversations, even eating a few bites of some sort of soup before fading back into sleep, head thumping against the small pillow which had seen so much use as of late.

This time however, Kiryu did not do either.

This time, by the time Carly came in from the other room to open the rice paper screen, he had been awake for a number of minutes in fact, looking over the room he had slept on and off within for the past number of weeks.

He had never seen anything like it.

It was simple; across from him was a warmly lit and unenclosed hearth, smoke slowly rising up to the tall roof above and through a small hatch in the ceiling. It was covered in mats, the floor- and aside from the walls there were a large set of paper screens closing it off from the rest of the home. If he looked to the other side of him, he could see a few other futons folded neatly and stacked upon a small shelf, bed things carefully stored with them.

It was while he was observing this that the side door opened, prompting him to turn. “Hn?”

“Ah-” Carly jumped, but seemed to react positively nonetheless. “You woke up again!” she cheered, Kiryu narrowing his eyes.

“ _Again_?” he growled, the woman coughing.

“Er- W-Well you’ve been in and out an awful lot, and even though the medic we called for said it was normal it was really tense so-”

As Carly continued to ramble on he began to block the sound of her voice out, snorting. It was taking a moment to process things; where he was, what he was doing-

Even the familiar parts seemed entirely foreign. “What’s with the glasses?” he asked, Carly adjusting them at the words.

“Erm. W-Well, before everything, I needed them, so-”

“Everything?” he repeated dryly.

Carly seemed to become rather uneasy at that, her hands and fingers fumbling over themselves. “Well- we. We’re in ‘Soul Society’ for a reason, I-” She swallowed, going silent for a few moments. “...You don’t remember?”

It didn’t take quite as long to catch what Carly meant by that this time around, and in response to that his frown became far more agitated than confused. It was strange; he’d almost assumed this were all some sort of bizarre dream, filled with things he’d either never seen in his life or had been too young to recall. And after all, what other reason could there have been? His last lucid memory so to speak was of the duel. The duel he’d had against Yuusei- before his body had given out, and collapsed in his friend’s arms. Death in the end, would have been the final payment for what he’d done, would it not?

That was what he’d thought.

He could not ignore the connotations of the term 'Soul Society’.

“We’re in _Heaven_?” he growled, seeming almost infuriated by the thought.

Carly merely drew back with a rather terrified laugh, shaking her head. “Er- W-Well, I wouldn’t quite say _heaven_ , I mean, if anything it’s more of a 'second life’ you could say-”

Kiryu snorted. “Tch! I’ve barely seen more than a bedroom and it already looks like 'heaven’,” the man snorted, and with those words Carly seemed unable to speak, her head bowed. with no further argument against him, he thus continued. “I don’t even care how you got here,” he grumbled, “But _I_ didn’t deserve the right to go someplace like this!”

If he was surprised to see Carly’s expression of upset he didn’t show it. Instead he continued to frown as she looked up, only to turn to look beside her when Demak came in.

“You act as though it’s possible for there to be a mix-up in death,” he remarked almost casually, quirking a brow as Kiryu stared to him with a somewhat familiar expression of bewilderment.

“…Weren’t you bald?”

Demak sighed almost exasperatingly. "This is the third time you’ve noted that, is it really so surprising that I would have stopped shaving after I died again?“

"What were you shaving for in the first place?”

“One part ceremony, one part obligation. Both of which you’ll find a distinct lack of, now,” he added plainly.

As Kiryu considered this a moment he found himself slowly nodding, looking over the length of both Demak’s hair and that of his and Carly’s own.

“How long have we been here?” he finally asked, Carly opening her mouth to answer only to pause and frown.

“Er. I- I lost track…”

“Including the few moments you awoke from your coma, we’ve been in Rukongai for approximately three months.” Three _MONTHS_?

Carly nodded at this, beaming. “Right! And I’ve been taking care to make sure you get plenty to eat as much as possible too!”

…Eat? “I thought we were dead.”

“W-Well, it’s like I said, it’s more of a second life-”

“Then why bother?” he snapped, cutting the woman’s words short. “If I can die again wouldn’t it have just been better to do that?”

Carly was silent.

“Hey,” he continued bitterly, “Answer me! What do you get out of it!”

“I-” She bowed her head, choking. “I mean, I couldn’t leave you there, the lines were moving too fast- No one else was paying attention-”

“Why should you have cared then?”

“W-Well, we didn’t know each other long, but-”

“SO WHAT!” he roared, half standing, half sitting as he made to move from the futon. “Why should you give a damn!?”

Carly’s gaze did not move from the ground and as she quietly began to weep she trembled, shaking her head. “I-! Because-” She choked, voice quieting. “… _Because there’s no one else_.”

With the expressions both Carly and Demak gave at these words, Kiryu found himself rendered silent.

And in the end rather than face this silence he stood on shaking legs to leave the room, closing the screen behind him to see for himself what realm he’d come to arrive in.


	4. Chapter 4

_**The lines of endless figures in white surrounded him, but all the spirit could see was darkness.** _

_**Darkness, and in the far reaches of his dream, an eye.** _

* * *

The house was simple and small, yet in so many ways larger than any place he’d lived in before his experience as a ‘Dark Signer’.

There were only two rooms really, with an outhouse accompanying the set-up outside. The second of the two rooms was home to a furo; it had taken a bit to actually figure that out as he’d never actually seen one, but he somehow managed to do so without any awkward run-ins on someone else in the room. The idea of sitting in a tub of water to relax was entirely foreign to him to say the least, being yet another dream he and his friends had never even thought to have when pondering the luxuries of Neo Domino.

In the main room were elements of things he was more used to, albeit in a much cleaner format. There was the raised area, which was covered with mats and had a fire-pit of sorts in the middle with various supplies stored at the side. Typically in the evening after the table they ate on was removed from over the pit, the futon would wind up lined around it. Even with the coming summer months, the coals were kept constantly burning. Although they were not in the 'north’ district after all, it seemed as though their region was one of the coldest of them.

The floor continued a step down from the 'main area’, and it was here that there could be found a kitchen- or part of one anyway. Other supplies such as fish traps and spears lay neatly at the side here as well, and separating it from the other half of the room was a sliding rice-paper door. This door also separated them from the outside- and there on the porch was yet another door, a rolled screen of straw protecting the home from the apparently vicious rainstorms they experienced at times- even 'heaven' had these it seemed.

He wouldn’t know to be honest. For all the time he’d been 'awake’ here the sky had remained remarkably clear after all. Clear enough to see that they were in the middle of some peaceful, expansive 'nowhere’, a wooded realm that was all too close to the shore of a large river.

The trees were the best part of it in his opinion. He was sitting in one right now.

“ _Aaaaahh-_!” Kiryu looked down as Carly’s cries met the air, the sound becoming all too familiar as of late. “He’s gone!” she shouted in panic. “He’s gone!”

Demak for his part seemed much calmer, watching as the woman before him fumbled over her fishing equipment with a calm stare. “Perhaps he wandered toward the village,” he offered, Carly turning with a jolt.

“Ah- The village?” she repeated. “You really think so?” the woman added, “I- I mean, he didn’t seem too happy about where we were so-”

Tch! Of course he wasn’t happy, he thought to himself. Why would he be!

His thoughts momentarily drifted back to storming clouds and darkened skies, the sounds of roaring engines cut short along with the voice of a darkened 'God’. He was being held in leather clad arms but he had been unable to feel anything, barely able to speak- barely able to say, ’ _I can’t be satisfied with this_ ’.

With the lies he’d lived by for so long- the knowledge of what crimes he’d wrought through it. The souls of thousands devoured by the beast that was Ccapac-Apu, likely never to return, and all by his hand. HAH!

How could he be happy here, he thought to himself once more. When he was being given a life better than all the years he’d had before death, despite all that he’d done? He was better off dead! Better off-

“Are you done tormenting our housemate now?” Demak asked from beneath the tree, the Peruvian not even looking up as Kiryu frowned.

“Tch.” He scoffed, turning away from the man. “She’s your housemate,” he corrected, Demak looking upward with a raised brow.

“And yours as well,” he added. “We _all_ share residence here.”

“HAH!” Another scoffing sound and he retreated further into the branches of the tree, bare feet clinging to the bark as he lay against the wood. “She’s just an idiot girl with a crush,” he argued in disgust. “There’s no reason to even bother otherwise!”

If Demak was amused by the remark he showed it only slightly. He was at least wise enough to realize that the comment Kiryu made was not out of pride but rather the expectations of some existing obligation or payment, as had been typical during his life. “A crush, perhaps,” he offered. “But not on _you_.”

What. “And what’s that supposed to mean?” Kiryu questioned.

“Well you’re dead aren’t you?”

“Yeah?”

“As am I.”

“Yeah?! And what’s your point? I starved, you got sacrificed or something…” He trailed off, ignorant to the light glare he received in response. For all his desire to stay in the tree as long as possible it was starting to hurt- in the end he clambered back down, hopping from a few of the bottom-level branches to land on the ground. “How did she die anyways, something similar right?”

Yet again he missed Demak’s response for the most part, paying attention only to his words. “Perhaps you should ask for yourself,” he answered rather coolly, watching Kiryu stiffen as shouts came back over the air.

“Demak-! I looked all over the place, and I still can’t find him! I’m really worried, because there could be h- _AAAAAAH_ -!” Whatever worried Carly, he would have to wait to find out, as in that instant she spotted the silver-haired man and screamed. “K-Kiryu-san!”

“What?” he ground out, idly rubbing an ear as the screech faded.

“Er- W-Well, we were worried,” she protested, choosing not to address the glance Kiryu made toward Demak in response. “Because even though it’s really peaceful here, there’s a lot of danger in the woods, like bears, and wolves, and-”

“I was just in the tree,” Kiryu snapped back. “Stop being an idiot.”

“Eh-” Carly coughed, attempting to calm herself as she laughed. “R-Right! Well I guess I’ll know for next time then,” she murmured, before smiling once again. “Ah! Anyways, if you want, I was going to go fishing just now- there’s still lots of time, and I got a really good catch the other day so-”

“Do it yourself,” came the flat response, Kiryu moving back for the house. “I’m not interested.”

The sliding door within the porch limits closed shut, and as Carly’s grin faded she moved to follow. She was stopped, however, by Demak’s hand. “Ah-”

“Give him time,” he told her calmly, moving to grab one of the discarded fishing traps from the ground. “There is more to his anger than he admits.”

It seemed as though she would argue those words for a moment; however in the end she remained silent, nodding as she moved to take an all too familiar route to the river. Dinner that evening would be an eerily quiet affair when she returned.

And whether any of them were able to sleep with these thoughts brewing about them, in the end none would speak to confirm or deny.


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warning: This chapter contains implied suicidal thoughts, and eventual animal death in relation to hunting. Please keep this in mind as you read it.

**_It was a heavy weight that sat on his shoulders, literally and figuratively._ **

**_Who ever could have guessed that this murderous skill from the other world would now help him survive in this one?_ **

* * *

In the time it took for him to settle into daily life in Getsukoin, the season had passed into late Spring. The pleasant and crisp breeze that once flowed about the area was replaced with a slowly warming wind that gradually lessened the need to keep the coals of the fire going. They had yet to stop of course- every time they considered it, it seemed that rain would fall and bring with it a sudden chill in the air- however it was very likely that by the time July came, heat and the desire for less of it would become the main concern. The blankets would be needed year round- the fires however, would assuredly not.

It was around this time that he finally relented to Carly’s daily offer to join her while fishing; with what time had passed a number of things had come to light, a number of things that made him feel more than agitated about the fact that Carly was the one fishing at all.

Case in point- Her fish sales were the reason they had a house.

Carly’s fishing often took up her entire day; she hiked up bottom of her pants, tied the sleeves of her shirt in place to the shoulders, and maneuvered about the rocks of the river bend’s calm spot to where she apparently hid her traps. If one had fish in it, she emptied it into the basin she carried with her and re-baited it. If it didn’t, she checked on the bait and condition before sending it back out.

And then came the next part.

The river was large, very much so in fact. One could only walk so far before facing the vast expanse of water that stood between them and the opposing shore, and it was once she was about knee deep in water with the bottom of her tied clothes grazing the surface that she started.

’ _You have to be really patient for this!’_ she warned him, handing him the three pronged fishing spear whilst he eyed it suspiciously. _'This is what I used before I was able to afford my fishing bow, it won’t go as far out, but it’s better for you to use it since you’re stronger than me!_ ’

And then she had trailed off about the various fish encountered thus far before he snapped her out of it. Regardless.

’ _Aim just a little under whatever you see pass, and then throw! Be very careful not to startle the fish when you spot them!!_ ’

That was what she had said.

Not even two hours into the event, and she was being quite verbal about what she thought of his response to that. “K-Kiryu-s- What are you doing!”

“STAY- STILL-” He’d fallen in the water a few times on the slippery rocks thus far, and between that and the failure to spear so much as a minnow on the prongs.

“AAHHH- K-KIRYU-SAN!” Carly shouted in the meantime, rushing over from her end of the shore. “Stop! You need to stop!”

“GET OVER HERE-!” Kiryu was not speaking to Carly, but rather the fish that was now currently swimming in a panic from him each time he attempted to grab it, the spear forgotten beneath him in the water. “GET- FUCK!” he roared, the barbed prongs of the spear cutting against his foot as he fell back. “ _FUCKING-_ ”

“K-KIRYU-SAN, YOU’RE SCARING THEM!”

“FUCK THE FISH!”

“AhhhHH- _IS THAT BLOOD_!?”

“ ** _I FUCKING HATE FISH_**!”

“K-KIRYU STOP SHOUTING, PLEASE!”

Needless to say fishing wasn’t his thing, and not only did he vow not to try again but Carly quite understandably avoided asking him. Perhaps if it had only been that, he would have been fine.

However a week after all of that it was plainly apparent that while Carly was fishing, he and Demak were succeeding at nothing. Even then that wasn’t the case- while his foot recovered from the slice on the fish spear he’d questioned him on it quite defensively, only to be left speechless when the Peruvian gestured to a large canoe he was slowly carving into shape.

’ _Fishing is something that my people were quite skilled in_ ,’ he explained to the marked man. ’ _After I showed Carly how to use the spear and bow, I decided to build a boat so that it’s easier to get a fair catch._ ’

Which meant in the end that it was _he_ who wasn’t doing anything. _He_ was the one sitting around while someone else did all of the work, gathering food or finding a way to better do that in order to set up proper trade for other _food_. Like rice. Or even bread.

And so here he was again. Far away from the house, and up in a tree.

He’d pondered simply leaving to be honest, in more ways than one. There were spears constantly lined along the walls, knives meant for gutting and preparing fish set on shelves near the wood calendar that had been recently purchased from some village nearby. He’d even taken one once- only once, holding it with almost steady determination until a tremble arose within that was so great he was forced to look away and drop it.

Coward, he’d hissed to himself, before turning his attentions to other things.

_Coward_.

What use was he here? He wasn’t helping, merely existing, like some parasitic growth that couldn’t be removed. And the more he considered this as he sat high up in the tree above, the more his growing despair twisted with a rage not toward Carly, or Demak, or even those left behind in the living world, but rather himself; if anything he thought to himself, he’d had no right to even pretend to be angry.

Despair and the lack of will to live however, would not do them any good. That he realized, and that, he refused to allow. If he was to continue existing he would find some way to be at least somewhat useful, mark his words.

_-tpf-_

As he looked down beneath the tree, 'use' made itself known.

A deer- a doe, not that he knew the proper term, idly grazing at the grass beneath. Deer would make far more meat than fish wouldn’t it? And with how much larger it was, surely it would last longer, right?

If he could catch a deer, it would make the lack of fishing entirely moot. It would make his inability to carve a boat as Demak was, moot.

If he could catch that deer he told himself, he would at least cease being a 'parasite’ to their existence.

Kiryu ran his tongue over his lips, shaking somewhat as he attempted to move silently through the branches. The deer below tensed briefly, as did he- and when it returned to the grass he began to move once again, breathing only barely kept below an audible volume. He could do this easily he told himself. It was like the old days of Satellite, right? Ambush the enemy. Catch them, and subdue them.

_Easy_ , he told himself, leaping from the tree at his goal. Ea-

“AAAAH _HGGPH_ -”

The doe tore off through the bushes as he landed with a thud to the ground, a light wheeze the most he had to say for himself as he lay in the grass.

_Ow._

He would come back with a rather tender front, flinching whenever he bent forward or moved his arms the wrong way, but in the end would say nothing. Tomorrow, he instead told himself.

Tomorrow, he would tell himself the next day, the bruises on his front starting to colour rather brilliantly.

Tomorrow, he told himself a week following, managing to land on his feet only to scowl at the long out of range buck.

Tomorrow, he repeated to himself, deciding not to even bother with simply standing but rather running himself ragged after the next doe he spotted. The effort was honorable but failed horribly in the end, and he didn’t so much return home as weakly slide through the door before collapsing on the tatami mats near the fire, the others staring in confusion.

Tomorrow, and this time he swore his fingers grazed the doe’s hind before he wound up with his face in the mud.

Tomorrow, and with a roar his arms locked around that of a buck, only for it to knock him off and flee as he groaned.

Tomorrow, tomorrow, _TOMORROW_ -!

“HRRA _AAAAAAH-_!”

“ ** _NNNNNHHHHHHH-_**!” The buck bellowed as Kiryu locked his arms around its neck, fighting viciously to throw off what it could not reach with its antlers. However unlike the times before he held on with locked wrists and a grit determination, taking the failures of the days before him as he pushed his weight against the beast to hold it. The buck, unable to properly run with how Kiryu latched on, rolled fell to the side- and in response Kiryu struggled to shift his grip, pulling at the head and-

_-crrk-_

The buck grew limp, and for a moment Kiryu stared. Had-

Had that worked, he half questioned, moving back from the buck with a groan. Its lifeless eyes stared vacantly upward, and as the sunlight above faded, its killer struggled to regain his breath. He’d done it, hadn’t he?

He’d caught the damn thing. (Mind, it was never really the same one, but-)

Kiryu would return home somewhat slouched under the weight of the young buck he’d barely managed to balance over his shoulders, weakly smirking when Carly spotted him and started shouting excitedly for Demak to come and help.

Demak in the meantime would do so, stare, raise an eyebrow, and-

“I don’t suppose you have a clue how to skin that?”

If this thing wasn’t so damn heavy he could have thrown it at the smug bastard’s face.

As it were, he would agree to joining Carly on a trip to the village later, in order to sell what they could from it.


	6. Chapter 6

**_The cold of the bark was almost welcoming, much like the cold of the metal in his hands._ **

**_What came beneath these branches would not escape this time._ **

* * *

For the sake of selling it while it was fresh, Demak worked quickly on the carcass Kiryu had almost literally dragged in. The buck was skinned, with a roll of older fabric made into a makeshift bag, and as Carly gathered the fish she had yet to sell Kiryu would find himself carrying the bag somewhat awkwardly around his shoulders yet again. Whatever was inside had been wrapped in a paper of some kind- Whatever he sold, he would be working largely on guess work to decide exactly _what_ beyond than 'deer’ he was selling.

“Pick up a sling, or a set of arrows while you’re there,” Demak asked of them as they left. “It should make catching deer easier.”

“I don’t need it.”

“Eh- B-But Kiryu, the fact that you caught it even without-”

“Don’t need it,” was the flat response, and thus they moved to continue off to the village without further argument.

The village was different from what he expected, though he would admit to being unsure of what he expected to begin with if only to himself. It both shocked him with the unfamiliar whilst revealing itself to be just what its name implied. The paths and roads were compacted ground, and the small number that there were would be lined with stores and stands with various wares. The number of those selling food however was curiously small he noted; and it seemed as though despite the difference in wares, Carly knew exactly which one would take what they had.

He only idly paid attention to Carly’s conversation with the merchant to be honest; his gaze was drawn more toward the price of what other foods were there, eyes narrowing slightly.

“Ah- K-Kiryu-san, the meat-”

“Mn?” He turned, and after a moment nodded and brought down the 'bag’. “Here.”

“Aah, this is the venison then,” the merchant murmured, carefully opening the bag. “Very fresh, looks rather lean…”

He had no clue what he was talking about.

“Ah, so you’ll take it then?” Carly asked eagerly.

The merchant nodded- “6,500 kan.” Kan? That was like yen, right?

A glance to what was being sold at the stand, and he looked back to the merchant. “Too low,” Kiryu countered almost immediately.

In apparently worried shock Carly turned, the Merchant himself stiffening more in rage than surprise. “Eh- K-Kir-”

“Too low?!” the merchant questioned incredulously. “Just what makes you say-”

Kiryu pointed to the price of the meat that was on display, and narrowed his eyes further. “It’s less than half that.”

“Rk-” The man coughed, hurriedly pulling out another string of coins. “2-20,000 kan then,” he choked out, the strings taken as Carly beamed.

“Ahhh- Y- You managed to-”

“Let’s get going,” he muttered flatly, leaving the stand without question. “We’re done.”

“AAH-!” As Carly attempted to balance the coin-strings with her baskets she panicked, rushing after the man. “W-Wait, not yet, I still have fish!” Ah.

That was true- And if Carly’s ability to barter was any sign, she’d need a fair bit of help.

Carly also had a few other things in mind however, things that would never in a thousand years have occurred to him. “Also, we should get you a pair of geta,” she decided as the fish and trapped crawfish were sold, almost lightly tugging at his wrist as they moved. “We got a lot more for the fish than I thought we would, you really know your prices!”

Actually he just paid attention to the display costs but- “I guess,” he decided, finding that he didn’t particularly care one way or another. In the end he’d likely forgo wearing them, regardless of Carly’s mutterings that 'really, everyone from here to district 50 has a pair!’

The geta would not be the end of it however and it was with mild annoyance that the further they moved through the village, the more pit-stops they made between the last store and their goal. “You need new clothes too!” she insisted, pushing the man into the modestly sized shop. “You can’t wear what you came in forever, and plus, it’s all covered in dirt now!”

No amount of washing was going to handle that, it was true- though most of the agreement he had in this case was more the fact that what he had was becoming all too worn out to be of any comfort and use rather than actual want. Even so. “Alright,” was about all he responded with, making it all too easy for Carly to half drag him around the village.

It wasn’t until later when they finally did reach the grain stall, that he spotted something that actually interested him. A skinning knife- just a small skinning knife, but it caught his eye whilst Carly chatted away with the grains merchant nearby. It wasn’t a bad knife either, he thought as he picked it up. The blade looked sharp- _was_ sharp, he corrected mentally when his finger became marred by a sudden line of red, and if he looked at the price-

Kiryu frowned, looking to the side as the sensation of being watched came over him, blade suddenly gripped tight. It was a false alarm in the end however- a small boy of little more than five years old stood at the side, looking up in silence. The staring persisted for some time, the boy’s eyes wide and unblinking as the man before him grew steadily more agitated. His teeth ground tight, and the knife was set back on the stand.

“What?” he finally snapped, the boy merely moving a hand up to point.

“Why’s your face all yellow mister?”

The words struck numbly in the back of his mind, and for a number of moments Kiryu did nothing but stare to the boy with wide eyes.

His expression hardened, and without saying a word he turned to leave on whatever paths he could take.

“Ah-” As he passed, Carly turned. “K-Kiryu-san!” she called out, fumbling over the bag of rice she had been buying. “K-Kiryu-san!”

He did not stop moving, nor did he speak. In the end Carly found herself standing quite alone in the village marketplace, unsure of just what had happened.


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter contains animal death, for hunting and self-defense. Please be aware of this when reading the chapter.

_**Though the cold was welcome, he soon found that it was warmth which he preferred the most. The warmth of the cloak was late to come in the end, however it was nonetheless greatly appreciated.** _

_**The cold of death was not so enjoyable as he had thought after all, and he would do anything to keep it at bay.** _

* * *

The warmer the summer months became the more Kiryu managed to improve in his hunting skill. Though he had refused the aid of a bow or proper knife, it seemed in the end that Carly had bought the one he looked over; skinning knife or not it was sharp, and there were more than simply deer in these woods.

For the most part when he made a catch it was skinned by Demak and sold by Carly; Kiryu himself refused to re-enter the village, and would typically find himself watching Demak work at the hide instead. As he scraped away what remained on the inside of the skin, before leaving it to dry and stretch into something workable. With summer well underway, the rainy season seemed to have largely passed. The rain shield of hay was left up most of the time now, and the doors often the same.

After the first deer it took another month to catch another; following that he shortened it to three weeks- After which it became two.

“Perhaps you’d like to give it a try this time?” Demak had told him when he came back with the kill, Kiryu staring almost confusedly at the remark. “I’m going to be working with the leather from the deerskins for a bit.”

“Leather?” The question was asked not so much with confusion, but rather surprise. “You still have those hides then?”

Demak nodded. “I had to tan them as soon as I got them for the most part; you’re lucky I had something to soak the first one in when you caught it,” he added dryly, “Or it would have been ruined.”

Kiryu frowned. “I wasn’t expecting you to keep the skin.”

“Leather is worth more than untanned hide. More importantly,” he added seriously, moving around to the back of the house, “Once winter comes, you’ll understand why I’m keeping some of these.”

He didn’t need to question that one; the idea of a coming cold was enough. As it were. “You won’t need to do much,” Demak told him. “The hide needs to soak before it can be stretched and tanned. What you do need to do however,” he continued, “Is skin and cut it.”

Never before had Kiryu realized just how messy the process of tanning was.

At least he knew what was happening to the deer brains and organs now. Skinning in the end was fairly easy to pick up, and once the matter was done it was back to ‘work as usual’. If he wasn’t working with the hides, Demak was working on the wooden canoe. Carly in the meantime continued her fishing and sales, the wares sold and taken back varying as time moved on; ayu in particular were frequenting the river as the summer drew closer to the end, and occasionally the sales reaped for them a watermelon in the heated days of August.

Fall came and the ayu began to leave. Demak put his carving tools away, and the 'two week haul’ of a buck became closer to every three to four days on Kiryu’s hunts. With fall, the question of how hunting from the trees would work closer to winter came about; with the next wave of fish however came the answer to what would replace it worst case.

It was getting cooler- there was no doubt about that. And as leggings and gloves made from deer-hide began to come into use, it was with immense shock that Carly’s haul became more impressive than his occasional deer. “What the f-”

As he watched the woman struggle with her pack Carly waved, half crying and half laughing over her spoils. “Salmon!” she cheered, holding the basket on her back with difficulty. “There’s salmon in the river!!”

“ _SALMON_ -”

Demak poked a head out from the house, before smiling at the clearly full basket. “Nice catch,” he noted, apparently unaware of the reason for the others excitement.

“Nice ca- She has a basket full of _SALMON!_ ” Kiryu protested.

“I knew there were salmon runs, but I didn’t think we’d be in the right area-!”

“How many fish are even in there!?”

The shouts continued even as Demak moved to take the basket from Carly, removing the lid to look at the large pile of them and nod to himself. “It seems we’ll need to start smoking some meat then,” he decided, hefting the basket into the house. “If we buy enough salt, it shouldn’t be too hard.”

“Eh- S-Salt isn’t that cheap,” Carly murmured, Kiryu merely rubbing his head. As if the price of the salmon wouldn’t cover the salt, but that aside-

“What’s smoking it going to do to the fish that cooking won’t?”

“Preserve it,” Demak called back. “We should do that with some of the venison too; we don’t know what you’ll be able to catch when winter comes. It’s better to be prepared.”

He stared for a few moments, before shrugging. “Hn. I’m still hunting,” he said, bringing the deer around to the back to start skinning it.

“I never said you should stop,” came Demak’s response. “Just that it might not be as easy later on. Particularly now,” he continued, following Kiryu around the back to check on whatever he had near the hides.

Now? He frowned, looking back. “And what’s that supposed to mean?”

“Just that you should be careful,” Demak answered somewhat dismissively. “I heard that there are bears in the area; they’ll probably be foraging before hibernation.”

What. Kiryu snorted, going back to his deer. “Did bears even live where you were from?” he retorted almost coolly, ignoring the frown he received in response.

Demak did not answer the question, merely turning away. “Just be careful,” he warned again. “A skinning knife will do little good against a bear.”

That was what he said.

What he would need in the end, was for 'little good’ to work a miracle.

Late October, and the cold had set in almost completely. There was already snow beginning to appear on the ground, and yet still the warning that there was more than deer in their district was being sent out. Bears could still be around, keep a watchful eye, etc, etc-

Kiryu ignored the warnings and shook his head as he took position in one of the many leaf devoid trees, keeping a watchful eye for his prey. The deer of course were becoming more wary; particularly since his hunting technique was not the most subtle. However despite this, a few hours through the day was enough for their guard to come down- and in the end he himself was not so blind to their movements either. If they had a better idea of a grazing or feeding spot, he would find it. And in finding it, gain a spot where he could likely take at least three deer down before having to move again.

The deer hide had come to fulfill its use at least- around his legs and arms the skin kept him warm, or at least warm enough that he could bear to sit in a tree for as long as he did.

The area was curiously devoid of life however, he noted. Not a single deer had passed by, or even come near. It was strange- and disconcerting, to say the least.

“ _GrrrrrNNnnnnff._ ”

He soon discovered why.

Sucking in a breath Kiryu pushed himself back against the tree’s middle, watching as an enormous black furred bear ambled slowly toward the remaining bushes and shrubs near his hide-away. This-

“ _RrrrrnnNNFF._ ”

This was not good. His heart hammered in his chest and he carefully looked beneath the tree, snapping his gaze back upward with a winging scowl when the bear seemed to pause to inspect its roots. Great, he thought to himself. Great. It was here, it was sniffing, it probably smelled _him_ -

“ _Snnnrff_!”

He chanced another look down, narrowing his eyes as it continued to sniff around the tree. Bears could climb couldn’t they, he thought to himself almost bitterly. They could climb, and if he wasn’t careful he was probably going to be eaten, wasn’t he?

The bear continued to sniff about the tree, and as it lingered Kiryu’s paranoid and almost exaggerated worries continued to persist. It wasn’t _leaving_ his mind hissed. It wasn’t leaving, and if anything it was going to realize he was here and-

Without another thought he fell forward, arms wrapping around the neck of the beast as it snarled in rage. “ _RRRNNNOOOOOOOO-!_ ”

“HHHAAAAA-HHH!”

The bear was no buck or doe. That much was obvious in every way, and launching an attack on such a beast was an absolutely foolish disregard for this fact. His arms barely wrapped around its neck as it was, and if not for the fact that bears couldn’t particularly stand backward properly, it was likely he would have been slammed to the ground already.

In the end, the bear didn’t need to slam _back_ for that. “ _RRRRNNNOOOOOROOOOOO!_ ”

“Ngh-!” As it gave a mighty shake Kiryu rolled to the ground, hissing as he landed. “Gh-” His pain was forgotten as the growling of the bear met his ears again however, and with wide eyes he looked up. “Shi-”

“ _RRROOOOOOOOOOOo-!_ ”

A clawed paw came toward him and he hurriedly rolled out of the way, hands clasping the knife that hung around his neck before he pulled it out to dodge again. “Ngh-!” Claws met with the side of his arm and already he could see the red slowly come to stain it, the man turning to look up at the bear as it prepared another strike. Running in the end, would do nothing it seemed.

“ _HrRROOOOOOOOHHHH-!_ ”

“HHAHHHH-!”

_**-sglch-** _

There could only be confrontation, if he were to survive.

“Hah… Hah… Hah…”

The knife fell as he ripped it from the bear’s severed throat, the beast quickly entering shock as it choked on the blood spilling through it. Kiryu sat there for some time in an attempt to recover his breath- his lungs stung and his body ached, the pressure and stress of the encounter catching up as the adrenaline wore away. That- That was nothing like the battles in Satellite, he thought to himself as he regained his senses. The feel, the danger- it was the same and yet not at all he decided, and as he wiped the small skinning knife against the grass he looked to the now dead bear.

He did this, right?

The longer he stared the more it hit him, and in the end he felt a grin coming over his face. “Hah.” He choked, shaking his head as he sat on his knees in exhaustion. “Haha… hAHAHAHAHAAAAAA-!”

A BEAR. He just took down a goddamned _bear_ , of all the things-!

Dragging it back would be a feat of strength to say the least; despite catching it nearer to the noon hours it was well into the evening by the time he got back. Carly and Demak watched as he appeared from out of the woods, enormous beast of a kill slumped over his shoulders with half of it dragging behind him.

“AH- B-B… A BEAR!?” Carly shouted in shock, Demak as well staring with wide eyes. “You killed a _bear_!?”

The reaction only strengthened his mood- his grin grew still wider, taking an appearance that one would have thought long forgotten as the others came to help bring the bear to the back. “What,” he snorted, “Didn’t think I could handle something like that?”

“You killed a bear with a skinning knife,” Demak responded with a deadpan tone. “If this were the living world you’d be dead.”

“Hn! Say what you want,” Kiryu replied. “I still beat it.”

“Wowwwwwww, there’s so much meat on it!” Carly cheered in the meantime. “And we could use this fur for something really warm I bet!”

“Perhaps,” Demak supposed. “We have to get the hide prepared first though.”

“AH- R-Right-! It’s probably going to be a lot more work since it’s a bear I guess.”

“It’ll be worth it though right?”

“Better than you dying.”

“What-”

The skinning would take quite some time in the end, given the size and thickness of it. Much of the bear was fur it seemed, and getting the hide ready to prepare took a fair bit of time. Getting the meat to a point where they could properly preserve or prepare it for sale as well- that took even longer. Bear paws were kept separate to be sold as the delicacy they were, meat cut and separated and wrapped carefully in the last of the paper Demak had for such things.

It was a late evening by the time they were finished, yet somehow they didn’t feel that tired. Dinner was quiet as usual, but more because they were hungry- after the fact the silence was not uncomfortable as it so often was, but rather strangely warm. The wood-block calendar sat at the side, and beside it Carly moved from changing its date to working at a carving in her hand. It looked like a bit of the antler from the last deer he’d caught to be honest- and in fact- “Hey,” he found himself asking. “What is that?”

Carly would quickly hide what she had into her sleeves, shaking her head. “I can’t tell you, it’s a surprise!” she insisted, Kiryu merely staring.

“What.”

“It’s a surprise! I’m not saying any more!”

“ _Wh-_ Hey, what are you doing?” he abruptly asked, turning as Demak appeared behind him.

The man merely held up a string and charcoal stick, as if the reasoning was obvious. “I need your shoulder measurements- the bear skin should make a good cloak.”

“Eh?”

“Hold still.”

The bearskin cloak would be nice in the end, he would decide later.

It certainly made deer hunting a lot more comfortable with the weather as cold as it was. By the time he got it, Carly’s block calendar would note that it was 'November’.

By that time he supposed, he felt there was more reason to exist than obligation in the end.


	8. Chapter 8

_**He wondered to himself- ‘why the wolf’? Wolves were not solitary creatures, not at all, in the end. That was the point of a 'pack’.** _

_**Then again he supposed, the misery of the 'lone wolf’ suited him.** _

* * *

With the bear’s capture the amount of spare funding available jumped considerably in a short span of time, a fact that even Kiryu was quick to spot. Any worries they might have had for earning enough to buy the now out of season grains had scattered, and though the salmon run’s end had brought with it a distinct lack of seafood the funds from that particular time only aided them further. The bearskin after all was not enough for everyone to have a cloak- half had gone into a hooded one for Kiryu himself, with the other half making a notably smaller cape for Carly, her slight frame making it easy to tailor the remaining pelt to fit. Demak in the end, would use some of the kan received with meat sales for his own winter cloak- though he seemed to consciously spend as little as possible on the purchase.

Or at least so little that it again caught Kiryu’s eye. “Do we really need this much kan for the winter?” he asked that evening, looking to the strings of change that were hanging from the hook by the calendar. It was late November now, according to the blocks. How Carly and Demak had kept track of it before hand he’d never know, but supposedly despite a distinct lack of technology, the majority of the area knew somehow. As to where Carly was for the moment, that as well was a question he had no answer to- 

Which was perhaps why Demak answered the question how he did. “Carly intends to hold a Christmas celebration between the three of us,” he explained, not bothering to look up from the gloves he was making. “Don’t tell her that we know.”

“Christmas?” Kiryu asked, narrowing his eyes in clear confusion.

The tone of voice was enough for Demak to look up from his work, and as he registered the expression on Kiryu’s face realization dawned upon him. “Aa _aaah_ yes,” he murmured almost inaudibly. “Satellite’s communication shut-down.”

What was that? “Hey,” he growled, turning to face the man completely. “Speak up!”

“Christmas is a holiday that was celebrated by a majority of the developed world,” Demak explained rather casually, “Something those of Satellite no doubt wouldn’t have had much time and care for- it’s meant to be a time of gratitude and giving, something Carly no doubt believes in, but has unfortunately grown into a money-grab for most stores to latch onto.” As Kiryu continued to stare in confusion, he went on. “Carly plans on setting up a special dinner on the eve of the 24th and exchange presents.”

“Pre-” Kiryu stiffened. “I don’t want presents!”

Demak shrugged. “I doubt she cares about that- regardless of what she herself gets out of it, she’s been working on _something_ for at least a month.” He hid a smile, glancing back from his gloves again. “Does that _annoy_ you?”

“Of course it 'annoys’ me,” he snapped, “I don’t want anything, she’s done enough already! I-”

At this the door slid open and Kiryu shut his mouth, watching Carly come in with a sack of sorts. “I’m back!” she started with a cheer, before looking to the others somewhat blankly. “Um _mmmm_. Is something going on?” she asked, watching as Kiryu’s eyes seemed to bore into the bag she carried.

“Nothing,” he eventually said, moving sit near the fire. “Just wondering where you were.”

“Oh! Well, I still have the traps out in the river, and even though it’s really cold, there’s still things in it sometimes so-” She coughed, cutting the rambling short. “So I was just in town making a few sales!”

“Hn.”

“Eee _hhhhhhhh_ …”

Eventually Carly chose to leave it at that, settling in a far corner with whatever she was carving again. Demak in the meantime continued with his gloves.

Kiryu however found himself growing steadily more agitated as the days passed on. He didn’t want anything, but it was clear that Carly was working on something. He didn’t want to owe anything, and while Demak had easily noted that this was the reason and even casually told him he wouldn’t, it still felt like otherwise.

Sadly he also had utterly no idea what to do about it, which of course led to him growing even more agitated leading to his thoughts drawing a blank even longer when he attempted to think on a solution.

It took until the 24th for something to be done about it, and likely for the best; had it been earlier, he’d have probably refused the assistance, but when Demak almost covertly handed him a bundled string of kan, he took it with questioning eyes instead of the usual expected snarl.

“There was some strings left from the bear,” Demak hinted, Kiryu looking over the strings. As the younger did so, Demak continued. “Though, you might have better leaving for town now if you don’t plan to be seen.”

“Wh-” He blinked, and looking back from the kan his head seemed to clear entirely. Oh. Right.

He’d been so set on avoiding the village after that incident with the boy, that he’d entirely forgotten that going there for a gift was an option. Erk-

Without another word he dipped out, with the cautious silence once utilized for stealthy operations in lost Satellite days. It was enough that Demak was likely the only one who realized he’d left-

At least initially.

“Ahhhh-!” Carly looked around the room as the prepared food was set out, firelight hot and warm and Kiryu nowhere to be found. “Where’d he go, where’d he go _ooooo_!” she lamented, wringing her hands in worry.

“He’ll be back soon,” Demak assured her, calmly putting what he was working on to the side.

“Eh-” She turned, sputtering over her words. “Y-You know where he is!? What’s he doing, where-” The door slid open and instantly Carly turned to watch as Kiryu came in, expression of fear replaced once more with a grin. “Ahh! Kiryu!”

“Mn?” The man frowned, arms somewhat crossed as he gripped something under his sleeves and cloak. “What.”

“N-Nothing!” Carly laughed, the sound rather obviously panicked. “Erm, just wondering where you were…” She trailed off, eyes drifting away before snapping back with a cough. “Ah, anyways, the food is ready and- What’s that?”

Kiryu paid her curiosity little mind as he walked past, arms successfully hiding whatever thing he had stowed away. “Nothing of your concern,” he replied, another nervous laugh escaping the woman in response.

“Er- R-Right!” The laughter quieted and soon enough they were all seated around the table, meat still warm and rice just as much so.

It was bear meat, this time- a fact that would have been obvious even without Carly’s 'I’ve never had bear before!’. Venison and fish were entirely different next to it, and in regard to taste it was just as much so. It wasn’t unpleasant however- and in fact by the end of the meal Kiryu found himself in relatively good spirits once more, something made possible largely because of all the other 'issues’ he’d recently brought to an end.

Or at least because he’d forgotten them. “Alright!” Carly announced as they finished, reaching into the sleeve-pouches she’d formed somewhat recently. From each sleeve came a single box, one handed to Demak, and the other to Kiryu, a large smile on her face as she did so. “Merry Christmas!” she cheered. “I made you both something to celebrate!”

“Both of us?” Demak commented, Kiryu silently telling himself not to address the false surprise. They both took the boxes and with relative ease opened them, Demak slowly pulling out his gift with a light smile. “Oh-”

“It’s an inro!” Carly explained, Demak turning the small carved box before looking over the bead and cord attached to it. “I couldn’t make that part,” she admitted with a light laugh, the box being slowly pulled apart into its sections as she spoke, “But I made a netsuke and ojime to hold the cord in place!”

The two beads were indeed carved, likely from the teeth of the killed bear, Kiryu noted- it was a simple carving, not that he would have expected more from the woman. It looked somewhat like a set of monkeys, to be honest, something that seemed to result in a smile from Demak.

“It’s well made,” the man told her, looking over the beads and golden cord. “Thank you, Carly.”

“Aaah-! It’s nothing-!” As she said this, Kiryu opened his own box, the woman beaming as he revealed what was inside. “Oh, and here’s yours!”

“Mn.” Initially regarding what was inside with a neutral expression, Kiryu picked out what seemed to be an antler only to blink at the hide wrapped around the end. Pulling the sheath off, he couldn’t hide his surprise-

A knife. It was a knife, meant for defense rather than skinning, for stabbing and cutting swiftly as opposed to delicately. The antler had been carved quite carefully into the handle of this blade- and in addition, held on its end a cord and netsuke of its own.

“Ahhh-” Carly seemed to regard Kiryu with nervous anticipation, watching as the man inspected the beads in silence. “D- Do you like it?” she asked, Kiryu merely looking over the carved wolf with somewhat wider than typical eyes. “Erm. Kiryu-”

“Here,” he said flatly, sheathing the blade and moving to reveal the loosely wrapped gift he’d managed to hunt down earlier. “Thanks.”

“Eh-” Ignoring the almost awkward answer she’d received, Carly gaped- “Y-You got me something!?” she asked in shock. “I didn’t think-”

“Just take it!”

“Ah!” The woman fumbled somewhat as she took the package, but nonetheless nodded. It was only loosely covered up by a square of hide, and almost fell apart in her hands. However what wrapped the gift mattered little- and as she looked at what was in her hands, she stared in amazement. “I… Oh,” she whispered, holding the small comb and pin set she’d received. “I- It’s…”

Kiryu frowned. “It’s what?” he asked, only to drop his knife as the woman launched her arms around him in a strangling hug. “GH- WHAT THE HELL-”

“It’s wonderful!” she cheered, pulling back and standing. “I’m going to try it on right now,” she added gleefully. “Thank you so much, Kiryu!”

“What?!”

He received no answer as she left the room, and once she had, Demak regarded him with a rather amused smile.

“Gh- And you can stuff it!” Kiryu snapped to him, the smile only serving to grow in response.

“I didn’t say anything,” he 'protested', gathering the pieces of his inro again. “Merry Christmas.”

“Nghhh-!”

At least, he supposed, she liked the damn hair-set he’d grabbed- because frankly, he had no idea what else a woman would have liked.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Untranslated from earlier chapters; 'Getsukoin' - Getsu-Ko-In for 'Moon Lake Temple'
> 
> The gift featured from Carly to Demak here is a traditional inro set; a form of case used to hold small objects such as medicine or seals from a kimono. The netsuke and ojime are beads which hold the case together and to the kimono obi.


	9. Chapter 9

_**The wolf-bead dangled from his side and held the dagger near to it, and when he caught sight of it he forced himself to hold back a hollow laugh. It was as though she had predicted his very fate in the end- the ‘lone wolf’, left to freeze in his travels through the blizzard snow.** _

* * *

It wasn’t long after Christmas that things settled into a regular pattern again, though with no carvings to work on now, Carly seemed to take up a number of other hobbies in the downtime she had from fishing. The river-traps were still checked of course, but this still left her with many hours to waste away- it was during this time that she took to drawing with the charcoal from the fire, occasionally lending Demak a hand as he worked at expanding his kanji vocabulary. "You seem fluent enough!" Kiryu had of course retorted when he discovered this, raising an eyebrow at the scraps which the man practiced upon. "Why would you need practice?"

"You seem to forget that Japanese is not my native language," Demak had responded, pausing in his writing with a half amused sigh. "And while I did indeed do well enough while we were alive, Soul Society uses a number of kanji that are otherwise outdated now- if I don’t practice them, it’ll be as though I couldn’t read at all."

The fact that Demak spoke an entirely separate language most of his life had honestly never occurred to him- the idea of someone doing so was foreign, after all the time spent in Satellite. As he would learn later from Carly's own questions it wasn’t even just one language.

"What language did you speak when you were alive Demak?" Carly’s question had had the man pause again, turning briefly to answer.

"I am fluent in both Spanish and Quechua," he had answered. Spanish being the official language…

And Quechua being his native one.

It was a bit to think about, that- then again it wasn’t as though Kiryu lacked the time to do so. With winter’s snow hunting deer was both easier and not, compared to the typical methods in summer- snow left tracks, but the deer were not the only ones who left them. If he climbed a tree to wait it’d be plainly obvious where he was, so he found himself stalking them more often than not. The act made a kill rarer than before, of course- it wasn’t as though he could simply outpace them- however in the end the meat that had been preserved and the grains they had stored would last them through the winter easily enough even without.

It was only January after all. And soon enough it wasn’t even that. “Neh, Demak,” he heard Carly ask as he came in from a failed run, shutting the door behind him to see the two roasting something over the fire. “What do you think Soul Society normally does for Setsubun?”

“Well, they had soybeans, so I’d imagine similar to what you expected…” Oh great.

Another holiday Demak recognized first. “Setsubun?” Kiryu asked somewhat curiously, pulling his hood up as he came over.

The two looked up, Carly jumping somewhat before smiling. “Ah!” She adjusted her glasses, before holding out a bowl of soybeans. “Kiryu! We just finished roasting this batch, do you want some?”

Uh. “Soybeans..?”

“It’s a tradition in Japan,” Demak explained, Kiryu frowning.

“I figured that part! What the hell is it for though!?”

“Ah, well, the beans are tied to driving away evil spirits, and bad health,” Carly began, Kiryu looking to her rather blankly in response. “Eh?”

The stare persisted. “We’re _ghosts_ last I checked.”

“Ahhhh but that’s not the same!” she protested, holding the bowl higher. “And it still tastes good!”

Kiryu looked to the bowl a moment before shrugging, taking the dish and moving to sit outside. “Not staying?” Demak commented as he did so, receiving another shrug in response.

“I should probably try getting another run in before nightfall,” he figured. “I’ll just eat the beans first.”

“Eh? Really?” As she said this Carly came to join Kiryu, sitting with him on the porch and shutting the door again behind them after grabbing her own cloak. “You don’t have to go out every day right now you know,” she told him, yet another casual shrug coming as her response.

“Well what else am I going to do?”

Carly blinked, looking away with her head on one hand. “Mnn- that’s up to you I would think,” she murmured, “But even so! You’ve caught a lot in the time we’ve been here already,” the woman complimented, “And not a lot of people need meat- so we’ll be fine if you stay a little bit to enjoy soybeans!” AH-

“Not man- The hell do you mean 'not many people’,” he sputtered, half choking on the beans.

“Eh- W-Well it’s exactly what I mean!” Carly protested, “Ah-” She blinked. “Oh…”

“What do you mean 'oh’?” he grumbled, the woman laughing nervously.

“Ahahah- well, I just realized that with all the hunting, you wouldn’t have known…”

“Known what, spit it out!”

She coughed, steadying herself to speak more seriously. “Well- only people with a lot of spiritual ener- ah, 'Reiyoku', need to eat,” she explained. “Most of the food we sell goes to Seireitei because of that, it’s why we can catch so much without trouble here.”

Uh- “Seirei-” Hang on, that was… 'Pure’, 'Soul’, 'Cour-’ “What?”

“It’s the city in the middle of Soul Society,” she explained, pointing toward the general direction it would be located in. “It’s surrounded by huge walls, and that’s where the court is. It’s also where the shinigami live,” she finished, Kiryu shrugging it off and going back to the soybeans.

Didn’t matter, he decided. If it didn’t concern him, it didn’t-

“I’ve been thinking I might become a shinigami too.”

That time he nearly did choke on the beans, though he at least hid it well enough that Carly didn’t appear to notice. “Gh- A 'Death God’?” he questioned. “Why the hell would you want to be a death god?!”

“AH! No no, they’re not actually gods!” she laughed, shaking her head. “They’re more- 'reapers’,” Carly decided. “The 'Shinigami’ are the people who keep the balance between life and death, making sure that nothing tips the scales too far.”

He found himself looking at her somewhat incredulously at that, while running the words over in his mind. 'Balance’, she said, what- “They’re 'Sector Security’ for the dead?” he questioned flatly, Carly quite unfortunately not realizing the mistake she was about to make.

“Ah- I suppose? I mean, they’re sort of like the Military I heard, so-”

“You’re fucking kidding me!”

“EH!?”

“You want to join those people?” he asked, the door sliding open behind them as Demak came to investigate what was going on. “Military-Security-Deathgods!?”

“Ah- W-Well, it’s good for controlling reiatsu,” she protested uneasily, “And I don’t think they’re what you think- I already said they weren’t gods!”

“Shinigami are the only ones able to pass between the world of the living and the dead,” Demak added from behind, “And typically the only ones with a proper defense against things that will otherwise target someone with large reiyoku reserves,” he continued seriously, likely intending for Kiryu to realize the last part.

However instead Kiryu latched onto the first comment Demak had added in, turning on Carly and dropping the bowl of beans as she flinched back. “The living world?” he laughed incredulously, shaking his head. The conversation from long ago with Demak while up in a tree came to mind, his sneer growing ever cruel. “So this is all about some stupid crush you still have back there!?” he snarled, the woman before him shaking her head as she trembled.

“No- no, _no it’s not_!” she protested, her eyes watering. “That’s not it at all!”

“So you don’t want to see anyone then?”

“They wouldn’t see me anyways-”

“So _you_ don’t care then?”

“I-” There were tears running down the sides of her face now, the woman still trembling as she held herself close. “No! I don’t!” she wept, bowing her head. “Because if I did, it would mean he died… But if I didn’t, then the longer I wait… The longer I didn’t, _I wouldn’t want to imagine what he’ll look like!_ ” she cried, Kiryu narrowing his eyes.

“What he _will_ look like?” he snorted. “And what the hell is that supposed to mean?”

“It means that we don’t _age_ like that Kiryu,” Demak responded rather coolly. “Those in Soul Society live for a remarkably long time- more so with those possessing high reiyoku I might add.”

“ _What?_ ” Kiryu hissed, Carly rubbing her eyes as she lifted her glasses from her face.

“I don’t want to know what will happen- I want him to live, but the longer I wait…”

Her words trailed off into the air until at last it seemed Kiryu felt ill enough thinking upon them. Pulling his hood over his head he turned to leave, not even looking back as silence reigned behind him. Perhaps they assumed he was simply going for that second hunting run- that he would return in a number of hours calmed down and relatively quiet, as he typically was.

However as he walked off through the snow he had no intentions of doing this. Instead he left, putting as much distance between himself and the home he’d spent nearly a year in as was possible.


	10. Interlude | The Lives of the Living | 1

**_He had kept them on the shelf of his home for a while, cracked and grimy as they were. With the death of the previous Director however, he would be forced to move- thus, he decided, they would be kept in the compartment of his motorcycle at all times._ **

* * *

The duty of the Shinigami was always balance, nothing more nothing less. A balance between life and death, an equality of souls. The title death god was a god in name only in the end- the Shinigami was a soldier, a servant to the cause.

The matters of the living were not of their concern when this balance was not a part of it.

However in the world of the living time moved on nonetheless. The war of the Signers and Dark Signers came to pass, shades of the dead passing on to the afterlife and leaving their scars on the living. Some scars healed. Others merely scabbed over, leaving a permanent line.

While still others…

“I found it!”

Crow’s cheer echoed through the room as he printed off a sheet of paper, a grin on his face. “Found what?” came the question from the side, Yuusei turning from the engine he was working on. After the swarm of ‘Ghost’ robots in the middle of the WRGP, the bikes had been in dire need of repair- Jack’s and Crow’s, he had already finished repairing at this point, but his own would remain off road for some time yet.

The paper Crow held was handed over, and as Yuusei skimmed it the redhead explained. “When I dueled Bommer- the Dark Signer with the whale marker- I heard kids crying. When Bommer realized that, and paid more attention to them…” He trailed off, bringing himself straight to the point. “These are Bommer’s siblings; everyone else who lost their souls were brought back after we defeated the Earthbound Gods, so they should be back too- I thought it’d be right to make sure they were alright,” Crow finished, taking the paper back as Yuusei nodded. “I dunno if the e-mail I sent will get through still,” he added with a somewhat uneasy laugh. “I mean, who knows what happened to them since then- I can at least try though, right?”

Yuusei nodded, a slight smile on his face. “Aah,” he responded. “It’s better than nothing.”

Indeed it was- the mail was responded to with a surprising amount of speed despite worries for both time difference and computer access. By that point those who had been out of the loft- Jack, as well as the amnesiac now sharing their home, had returned.

“That was fast,” Crow commented to himself as he opened the mail in question, Jack looking over his friend’s shoulder as he ate through his ramen.

“What was fast?”

“I sent an email to someone in Peru and there’s already a response,” he muttered, Jack merely frowning.

A glance at the time stamp told all. “That was four hours ago.”

“Yeah but it’s a couple of kids hours behind us!” Crow protested. “It must have been three in the morning when they typed it!”

“Three!?”

Crow didn’t say anything more as he read through the mail, frowning. “These two live alone?” he murmured, skimming through the text.

“Who are they anyways?”

“Bommer’s kids,” Crow answered automatically. “Siblings, he was-”

“I know who Bommer was!”

“Well you asked!” Before the squabbling could continue however he blinked, scrolling down to the end of the email. “Huh? They’re asking me to visit?”

“If the tournament’s postponed long enough you probably could,” Jack assumed with a shrug.

“They’re asking for you too Jack.”

“MN!?”

Crow nodded, grinning somewhat cheekily. “Yeah- apparently 'Max’ is a huge fan who hasn’t heard about Fortune Cup yet,” he added, Jack heating up as expected.

“As if I’m going then!”

“Awww come on!” Crow laughed, clicking something at the bottom of the mail. A photo of two children- one likely in her early teens, the other perhaps 9 or 10- appeared, and the redhead moved to let Jack see. “Look at him, you can’t let him down like that!”

Jack looked up from his ramen but briefly, however as he took a second, longer look he frowned. “Nmmmnnnnnnn…”

“We’d be in and out within a week, honest,” Crow added. “I’m pretty sure we’ve got enough for two tickets-”

“Ah- Only two!?”

Crow frowned. “Unless you want to rent a car, yeah- two. And that’s guessing.”

For a moment Jack was silent, going back to his ramen with narrowed eyes.

However within a few minutes, he had his answer.

“When do we leave?”

Crow’s response was to grin, and immediately look up some bargain flights they could potentially take.

And when that plane arrived, a senkaimon would open upon the plains.


	11. Interlude | The Others Who Fell | 2

_**They were all dead, the four of them, and what a horribly relevant number that was. Perhaps it was coincidence that four was the number of months before their own was halved- but for now, they decided, there was always more they could learn before leaving this academy.** _

* * *

It would be somewhat difficult to describe the invisible party of men and women who appeared over the Nazca Plains while the sun dimmed at their side, to those entirely unfamiliar with their matters. Many were garbed in white and black, with one in particular bearing a coat of white over the robes. However two others among the group wore white with a coloured lining, blue for one, red for the other.

To describe them would be somewhat touchy a subject- however their reasoning for arrival was more than worth the crowd. It had not been long that Seireitei’s concerns extended to the Earthbound Gods- indeed, their knowledge of the existence of such beings did not exist until then, what with such international matters having never entered their realm of influence. Whatever beings watched over the area however, now lacked such control-

The 12th Division could never pass up the opportunity to inspect and research things which did not conform to the known laws of the dead. While the heads of the newly founded ‘EBG Department’ could not be present, their labcoat covered assistant could assuredly hold contact for them on the matters of recent changes to be found there. All others with the researcher came from the 5th-

Save the duo in white. ’ _There are two others you should consider in this mission,_ ’ they had been told, expecting perhaps the name of a relatively high-seated officer. ’ _As I recall,_ ’ the department heads instead explained, ’ _They should be in their second year of study now._ ’

And so, not long before the senkaimon had been dispatched and the team gathered and sent, a few from the assigned group found themselves here at the academy.

“Hehehe- Gotcha cornered missy!” the sparring student taunted, one hand gripped tightly on his opponent’s blade. “How’s about after this spar we have a little _rematch_ eh?”

Whatever issues the class had with this particular student likely wouldn’t have been easily quelled by the Shinigami sent to retrieve the two who had been referred, but there was no need.

“GHLk-!”

As blood dripped from the student’s shoulder, the man was knocked back, his classmate narrowing her eyes whilst gripping what appeared to be a small dagger. “You assume too much,” she commented, her opponent quickly finding himself paralyzed on the ground. “Even if I didn’t have a second blade, there were at least a dozen ways I could recover from that hold.”

The shinigami stared briefly, the paralyzed student taken to the side for recovery whilst the one now leaving the ring took a cloth to clean her blade, a fairly tall young man accompanying her as she did so.

“A little dramatic, don’t you think?” he asked her, his friend merely sheathing the dagger in its place at her side.

“Please, it was well worth it nonetheless,” she responded. “Not to mention the quickest- and least painful,” the woman continued calmly.

“Hmnnnn…”

“Misty Lola?” someone asked from behind, the two students turning as the Shinigami who had appeared during their class approached them. As they stared the Shinigami bowed his head to address the other with her- “And… 'Bommer’, correct?”

Thankfully it seemed Bommer was willing to excuse the fact that his first name had evidently been forgotten- instead as he nodded, Misty gave an affirmative. “That’s correct,” she answered calmly. “Is something the matter?”

“It isn’t Godwin, is it?” Bommer added, the tone implying that it didn’t particularly matter which one.

The shinigami blinked, seeming almost confused as he shook his head. “Er- No, it isn’t- Well it _is_ ,” he continued, “They’re the ones who referred you after all-”

“Referred?” Misty cut in, frowning. “For what?”

“If it involves experimentation, we said no.”

“Actually,” the shinigami explained, “It’s a field assignment.” A folder was handed forward, and as the two flipped through, they shared a glance. “To a location in Ica, Peru.”

“A spike of energy came from the lines?” Bommer asked, looking up from the papers. The Shinigami nodded, and he closed the folder.

His companion seemed to frown, albeit only slightly. “Just a moment,” Misty requested, before moving to the side with Bommer.

Another nod, and the instant they were out of earshot Misty turned. “This is _right_ in the area you lived,” she hissed, eyes narrowed. “Exactly there near the spiral lines, you said that yourself!” At the silence she received in response the glare persisted. “You can’t be seriously considering this!”

“My siblings died remember?” he responded quietly. “There’s no risk in keeping quiet about this,” he continued, “I don’t have a home to risk exposure looking for.”

Strong as the defense was, Misty held her stare for a few moments more before moving to tell the Shinigami that they would accompany the investigation team. True, supposedly there was no risk in this, if Bommer’s family were indeed dead as he suspected. For all her suspicions she remained quiet as promised.

And on the desert plains of Ica, Peru, two D-Wheels charged to meet with the children who had called them out there.


	12. Interlude | Hollow Words | 3

_**What would have happened if she lived? Though they asked him this he did not know, nor did he seem to care what they predicted. For in his mind at least the ending was good- and that was all that was needed to make reality a bitter place.** _

* * *

Annie and Max were both sweet kids all in all. Though Crow had been quick to voice his worry on the lack of someone to look after them, they’d been just as swift to correct him- while they did indeed live alone in the home, they were in fact visited every week by someone from the nearby city. Perhaps not the best of circumstances but they insisted they were fine, and their home attested to that. If anything it was better than half the homes in Satellite- Or at least, the Satellite of his memory. They had their suspicions of course; even Jack frowned at the persistence they were met with, but in the end he was distracted when the brother came around the doorway with a board in hand.

“Hey hey, mister Jack Atlas!” he’d cheered, a helmet secured on his head. “Do you wanna duel? It can even be a riding duel, I saved up just for this!”

“MN!?”

Jack couldn’t refuse the request in the end, and so he was quickly pulled outside. Max followed, leading him to the riding track he and his sister had put together using torches, and in the meantime, Annie continued her conversation with Crow.

“Thanks for this,” she started, Crow blinking at the sudden change in attitude. At the confused frown she received, she continued. “Max has been… Different, since we found out Bommer was gone,” she admitted, the teen across from her nodding in quiet understanding. “It’s why I asked about Jack- he was such a big fan, so I thought maybe it would distract him- just a little. I-” Annie swallowed, biting her lip. “Did you know him well?” she finally asked, eyes watering as Crow looked away.

“I-” He frowned. “No. We were dueling,” he explained further. “I…”

“Please,” she insisted, “You said you knew him- what happened, exactly?”

“I fought the ones that killed him,” Crow answered, Annie’s eyes drawn to the clearly marked ‘tail’ on her guest’s arm. “And I’m going to leave it at that,” he added, watching as understanding came over Annie’s face.

Whatever they knew of Signers and Dark Signers was enough, it seemed. Annie knew what happened to her brother now.

Before the mood could sour further in the room however there was a shout, the duo standing from the table with a start as Max ran in. “Jack just left!” he shouted, Crow tensing at the words.

“Jack did?” he repeated. “What happened?”

The boy swallowed, holding his board close. “I- I don’t know,” he admitted. “We were just dueling, and, and he drove away-”

“That’s _all_ that happened?” Annie questioned further, the boy swallowing in response.

“I- I saw fire,” he continued with a quieter tone, looking down. “I thought something was wrong so I stopped, and then he just shouted something and drove away, I-” The two continued to stare, and afraid, Max looked to them with watering eyes. “Did I do something wrong?”

Immediately the boy was pulled close by his sister, the girl holding him close despite the board he still held. “No no no- no, it’s okay,” she assured him, attempting to calm him down. “It’s alright, it’s just…” She looked back to Crow, as though asking for him to fill in the blanks.

Unable to do otherwise, he did so. “Jack’s kinda tense right now,” he admitted. “Lines bring bad memories, you know?” At the continued stare from both he sighed rubbing his head. “Look- I don’t know much about what happened in his fight. I wasn’t even a Signer then,” he added, Annie in particular seeming more interested in the conversation with that. “Jack though, he wound up against someone he’d just gotten to know and-” Another sigh, the confusion evident in his tone. “I don’t know. I guess despite how long they’d known each other, she was close…”

Or perhaps that was what he dreamed now.

Jack drove far from the duel, excuses ringing through his ears and on the air as he thought back to the fiery visage it had brought. The cards set against him were nothing like the deck the boy had eagerly shown him before, his mannerisms changed, his very eyes seeming to cloud with unearthly power.

It chilled him but admittedly his pride had still been the larger reason for his flight. The battle had been called off when fire filled the air, and in a battle against a child his temper had gotten the better of him. He didn’t need pity he told himself.

Not at all.

Yet now as he drove he found himself thinking to the glasses in the bike, to the words of a dead young woman who had been in the wrong place at entirely the wrong time. As he stopped outside what seemed to be a ruined village, Jack pondered those words only to scowl further.

Some 'king’ he was, to run out on a kid like that. Some king indeed- yet his pride still got the better of him, and so he instead chose to wander as opposed to driving back.

The village was more than ruined, and as he came within its limits he found a chill coming over him despite the temperature. A chill which increased spectacularly as he turned the corner, watching as an elderly man stepped right into a pyre of his own volition. “Oi-!” he shouted despite himself, shaking the pressure the air held on him and charging for the man. “ _OI_!”

With a violent blast of heat he was knocked back, and as he pulled himself up the man blazed to naught but ash and bone in nothing but minutes. As he stared a voice cut through his mind.

A voice which spelled his end in an instant, as a masked, flaming spirit came near. “ **Saw that did you?** ” it asked with a cackling grin. “ **Your reiyoku is sweeter, mnnnnnn.** ” Before he could do so much as move, the skeletal flame grinned viciously “ **Perhaps that vow I made with the earth can be fulfilled after all! You’ll do wonderfully!** ”

“N _Gh-_!”

The fire was replaced with a cool and utter darkness.

And as the sun came to set, 'Jack’ moved to return to the others.


	13. Interlude | Weapons of the Dead | 4

_**It was strange, but if he thought back on that day he could distinctly recall the shape of someone, some woman, standing before him in the flames.** _

_**And while a part of him insisted that this wasn’t the case, and that his own conclusions were farther off than the truth even was, he allowed himself to at least briefly believe in the power of the remembered dead.** _

* * *

They landed in the plains without issue, or at least of the major sort. Three shinigami from the fifth division of relative rank accompanied them, along with one of the scientists of the EBG-Department. They moved through the plain with relative speed as well, perhaps even hastened by the conversation their 12th division guide was currently locked within on the Denrei communicator.

“I only called to confirm that we were within range of the site!” he was protesting to his superiors for the moment, “Not to say that we’ve discovered the source of the anomaly; we’ll be there in just a moment,” the shinigami persisted, “Don’t get your feathers ruffled!”

A short pause and the shinigami was rubbing his head, hurriedly speaking again.

“No that wasn’t meant to be an insult!” he hurriedly remarked, “Just- Yes sir,” he sighed, “I will call you _then_ ,” the man continued, clicking the phone shut. “Hahhhh… Liked him better when the ‘Earthbound Window was theoretical,” he muttered to himself, “ _Sheesh_.” As he said this, the group came to a stop, staring at what seemed to be a small step pyramid. “What in _hell_ ’s name-”

“This is the site,” one of the shinigami told him, Bommer and Misty finding themselves looking over the pyramid with narrowed yes. “Energy signature is a match.”

The scientist frowned. “No- No no no, that can’t be right,” he muttered, “This is- _Damn humans_ , what are they doing now!?”

“It’s a shrine,” Bommer stated aloud, standing before the stairway.

“A shrine?” another of the shinigami asked. “It looks nothing like one!”

“Peruvian shrine,” he countered back. “Moche build,” he added more suspiciously, looking over the images along the railings. “Recently carved, and carved well at that, but…”

“What is it?” Misty asked, her friend looking back from the shrine with a frown.

“These are images of jaguars- these aren’t peaceful images, not the sort you would carve into a shrine,” he continued with a steadily growing tone of worry, “And _never_ -”

A spike of power exploded through the air and in an instant a D-Wheel all too familiar to him appeared in the distance. It approached with a roar and brought with it a crushing power which had the shinigami leap to action. ’ _Hollow!_ ’ they cried without thinking, the scientist with them watching in shock. The white they saw was not anything like that however-

Which was why if at least to prevent culture shock from ending the life of another, Bommer rushed to block the closest blade. “WAIT!”

“WHAT THE-”

“BOMMER WHAT DO YOU THINK-” As the student was joined by Misty in halting the charge the three narrowed their eyes, correcting his initial statement. “What do you two think you’re doing!?”

“It’s a D-Wheel, a _machine_ ,” Misty protested, “Attacking it isn’t going to do anything!”

“Then explain the reiatsu that just came down, or are you prodigies so _'powerful_ ’ that you didn’t notice!”

As the argument continued the bike had since passed and come to a stop, the scientist looking from the human to his team with quiet confusion. Say something? Don’t say something? The human began to walk almost blindly toward the shrine and he cursed, running for the shinigami and students.

“Listen,” Bommer was arguing fiercely, “Jack Atlas is a 'Signer’; the fact that he has considerable pressure does not-”

“Oh, so you know this human then? And you didn’t tell us about this?”

A cough as the scientist called for the others. “If I could have your attention-”

“We had no _reason_ to believe Jack Atlas would even be here,” the second of the students persisted, “He lives in Japan, not _Peru_!”

“That’s really nice everyone, but this 'Jack Atlas’ is _also_ -”

“The taint of this energy could not possibly be human! No living being would be able to hold that much without attracting hollows, therefore SOMETHING-”

“ _IF YOU CLOD-HEADS WOULD LISTEN TO ME_!” the scientist shouted, and in that instant an explosion rang through the air. Shouts from others who exited the nearby home became faint, and as the top of the shrine was destroyed by some unknown force the pressure vanished briefly-

Only to resurface with ten times the strength as before. “Ngh-!”

“This energy is nothing like before!” the officers yelped, the others swaying on their feet as they adjusted.

“As I was saying,” their guide hissed, the humans at the side darting in despite the energy in the air. “The pressure is from underground, and your 'Jack Atlas' just walked right for it!”

“Under-”

The blood drained from Bommer and Misty’s faces, and the taller of them swallowed. In the air above them a symbol was now carving itself into the sky, one recognized from a long lost era, and the more it revealed itself the more fearful he became. “The Crimson Devil,” Bommer hissed, the others turning to him in an instant.

“So you have been here then?” one of the shinigami questioned, Misty leveling a glare toward them.

“That doesn’t matter right now- we were asked to accompany you for a reason, and this is it! We don’t have time to argue,” she continued, and the scientist as well nodded.

“That’s right- whatever is going on down there, it _cannot_ surface!”

Bommer by this point had already darted ahead, and the trio of shinigami with them faltered. “Hold on, what are you-”

Misty was the one to answer, fixing the three with a look. “I sincerely hope you weren’t about to request we call in some sort of request first, _sempai_.”

The warning was enough when the scientist as well chased after Bommer, the trio steeling themselves. “Right- Let’s move!” the leader announced, the team darting down the hole created by the blast. What lay below was nothing like they had at all expected, and yet what else could have possibly been? A spiraling stairwell into the ground, opening at the side to a vast pit. ’ _JACK_!’ the children were crying, Crow standing with them to call the name as well. ’ _JACK!_ ’ they roared, only to flinch back behind the teen as he held them back from the edge and what appeared to be flaming tendrils as well.

Jack did not move but the hollow before them did, and it was with a silent gesture that their team leader motioned to prepare for a strike. It was clear that the tendrils were not unnoticed- either it was the energy in the air or some other force, but regardless of the origin the ones within the chamber could see the dead.

“ _ **Tch- more distractions,**_ ” the hollow below hissed, white mask snarling as the flames spat. “ _ **No matter! I’ll deal with you when the ritual is complete! Come now boy,**_ ” he laughed, preparing a blade of flame, “ _ **We’re almost done here…**_ ”

“Mn…” The first signs of breaking control and it was all too late, the blade nearly formed as Jack’s vision cleared. “GH-” And before he could so much as question what had occurred the tendrils latched around each of his limbs, pulling his body taut as he shouted in pain. The flaming blade moved forward, the stone of the chamber crumbling and-

“DANCE,” he heard a woman cry, blades cutting the tendrils as the hollow screeched. “ _MASAYAMORI!_ ”

Steel blocked the flaming blade and another swiftly severed the last of the tendrils holding Jack mid-air. As he fell back the light from the hollow’s fire left him unable to see anything but a silhouette- a woman he realized swiftly, squinting his eyes. No. Not just any woman, he realized. This was- “Dark-”

“Not any more,” Misty curtly replied, looking down to him as the rest lunged toward the Hollow with battle cries filling the air. “However it is good to see that you’re well Jack Atlas,” she continued. “ _I_ am-”

Before she could introduce herself the woman was forced to bring her hands forward in defense, throwing the twin metal blades before them as stone cracked along the sides.Though the blades of at least one of the Shinigami had met their goal, it seemed it was all for naught as it cackled- “ _ **Too late,**_ ” it hissed, “ _ **I have more than enough reiyoku now! BETTER HOLD YOUR END OF THE BARGAIN DEVIL!**_ ” the hollow howled, those in the chamber growing pale as it threatened to collapse. “ _ **Hahahahahahaaaaa-gK!**_ ”

“Die, you _stupid_ thing!” one of the shinigami hissed to the beast, cleaving the mask as the tentacles fell limp. Just as he began to recover however, the stone blasted back with considerable force, the pressure of reiatsu instead increasing despite the hollow’s defeat. “Ng- WHAT!?”

“What the hell just happened?” another of them shouted, only to look to the side as the stone steps crumbled. “Shit,” the shinigami hissed, Bommer darting toward the living ones at the side. “SHIT-!”

“ _KURAUBOSHI_!” Bommer roared, his own swords shifting as Crow and the children fell- with one enormous, shield-like gauntlet he caught them, the other stabbing into the side of the stone wall regardless of what pain it brought. And as the three looked up he found himself able to say very little in response to their questioning shouts. “Don’t be afraid,” he instead assured the youngest of them, his siblings now huddled in the gauntlet 'fin’. “I’ve got you now,” he continued, “You’re safe-”

_**-nnRRRROOOOOOOOOOOHHHHHHH-** _

Safe was what he said, however as the rest of Bommer’s team struggled to stand the stone fell further before them- fierce golden eyes with red pupils opened to stare forward, and serpents of magma-like texture rose up from the near bottomless pits below. Struggling to his feet Jack did not show the manner of one who desired help, or even one who was unsure of what he was doing now however. Instead as he defiantly looked to the eyes of the Crimson Devil, it was the students in the group who realized what was happening.

“What are you doing!?” Misty shouted, her face caught between worry and rage both. “Do you even know what you’re facing!?”

“JACK!” Bommer added fiercely, “This is the Crimson Devil! The most powerful of the Earthbound!” he persisted, Jack nonetheless continuing to stare the demon down. “YOU _CANNOT_ FIGHT THIS!”

The shouts began to come from most everyone of the team that had been sent to investigate what was now before them, with the children and Crow both rendered silent with shock- and as Bommer looked down, he realized why.

For on Crow’s arm, the mark of the Tail now blazed with light, just as the mark of the wings did on Jack’s own. “You want my SOUL?” Jack snarled to the beast before him, the devil’s face slowly revealing itself from behind the stone. The blond spat to the pit before him bringing his fist over his heart as a flame appeared to blaze about it. “YOU COULD BURN ME TO ASHES AND IT WOULD STILL NOT BE YOURS!” he roared, and with that Bommer realized what he was witnessing now.

“The Burning Soul,” he murmured, and before those within earshot could question him the fires from Jack’s form seemed to spike with reiatsu, a powerful stream of flame arising around him in the form of a dragon.

More precisely however as the Devil before them snarled, it formed the very being who had sealed him years ago. And as the Crimson Dragon gave its song-like roar Jack threw his fist forward, the power of the dragon launching forward to coil itself around the monster entirely. “HERE AND NOW!” Jack announced to the beast, “ _THE KING AND THE DEVIL BECOME ONE!_ **Your fires have no power here!** ” he concluded, and the accuracy of the statement could not be questioned in any way. The fires of the Dragon burned so brightly that none could see what occurred next-

However as the chamber continued to collapse there was no question about what needed to be done. “MOVE!” their superiors shouted, Bommer kicking off from the stone and forcing himself to hold strength at least long enough to leave the temple’s grounds. “HURRY UP, MISTY!” another of them cried, the woman briefly touching down with the Scientist to pick up a now half dazed Jack from the central pillar before leaping off as it collapsed.

They escaped the ruin and as they did so the stones crumbled, collapsing and covering themselves until there was nothing but smooth ground remaining. And in the aftermath a number of things that hadn’t been said now had their moment, the shinigami and students each dealing with such matters in their own way. Off to the side the 12th division scientist who had guided them was busy briefing his superiors, hastily assuring them that they would have a member of staff regularly checking the area for residual issues. For the most part, the Shinigami with them were preparing to leave, provided the last of the important matters were dealt with. And as Jack nursed a growing headache with a scowl, he and the others now turned to face the shades of the dead they once thought long gone.

“ _How_?” Jack finally asked as Bommer finished greeting his siblings. 

“Are the others all the same?” Crow added, “ _Alive_?”

Misty and Bommer did not answer for a moment, instead trading pained looks. “Alive isn’t quite right,” Misty admitted, “However that doesn’t matter.”

“Doesn’t matter?” Jack snapped back. “Are you telling me it’s only _you_ two then?”

More sighing, and as Misty rubbed her head, Bommer gave his siblings one final hug before looking to them almost despairingly “About that,” he started, only for the shouts of the three Shinigami behind the group to cut him off.

“Look this way please!”

“EH?”

Before the slightest of questions could be answered, a cloud of smoke filled all four of their faces-

And by the time it cleared the fact that the six others who had just helped them escape from the pits below were missing did not matter. After all-

It had only ever been them who were there. Jack had just finished dueling an 'imp’ of sorts, hadn’t he? He’d used Burning Soul to merge the Devil with his card, winning the match in that way, hadn’t he?

The children were safe, the false shrine was gone, and with that in mind the two bid their farewells before driving away from the cursed plains.

…While in the distance, Bommer looked on the scene from the senkaimon with clouded eyes. “It’s for the best,” Misty assured him, placing a hand on his arm. “There are reasons the dead don’t interact with the living.”

With a momentarily persisting look Bommer eventually turned, nodding. She was right in the end, he supposed.

In the end though that didn’t change the fact that his siblings would no longer remember the moment when that rule did not exist.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For the names of Misty and Bommer's swords;
> 
> Masayamori - Righteous Gecko (Masa Yamori) - In Moche lore, the lizard often came in pairs, as 'divine shrine attendants'.
> 
> Kuraubochi - Eat/Drink Cemetery (Kurau Bochi) - The whales were both protectors and devourers to the Moche, and the cooresponding EBG 'Chacu Challua' may refer to this, as it can translate to 'eater drinker'; they were also, like many aquatic beings, considered able to pass freely between life and death. Bommer is pronouncing it incorrectly.


End file.
